Reliable predictions indicate that there will be over three hundred million (300,0000,000) cellular telephone customers worldwide by the year 2000. Almost all cellular telephones are hand-held units that are completely portable. When a person carries a cellular telephone, he or she can either hold the telephone manually or keep the telephone in a garment pocket. Many cellular telephone users desire to avoid the inconvenience of continually carrying the telephone by hand and the awkwardness of storing the telephone in a pocket and retrieving the phone from the pocket.
To do this, many cellular telephone users attach to their cellular telephone a belt clip that may be attached to any garment edge, such as the edge of a pocket or, more commonly, the edge of a belt or waistband. The cellular telephone is detachably coupled to the clip, usually with a threaded machine screw that screws into a threaded receptacle in the back of the telephone. The belt clip with the telephone attached to it is then placed over and clipped onto the user's belt or waistband.
The telephone conveniently hangs on the user's belt until the user needs to use the telephone. When the telephone is needed, the user removes the belt clip (with the telephone attached) from the belt and uses the telephone. When the telephone is no longer needed, the user again places the belt clip (with the telephone attached) over the belt. The use of a belt clip for carrying a cellular telephone in such a manner has become widespread.
It is not easy to quickly place prior art belt clips into position over a user's belt. Many times a user finds it difficult to quickly maneuver a prior art belt clip into its proper position. This is due to the fact that the width of the leading edge of prior art belt clips is large compared to the space between the user's belt and the user's clothes through which the leading edge of the belt clip must pass in order to be placed into its proper position.
For example, in the case of a belt worn with trousers, the belt typically passes through belt loops sewn at intervals along the top edge of the trousers. The belt loops serve to secure the belt in place and (when the belt is buckled) assist in holding the belt sufficiently close to the surface of the trousers to keep the trousers in place. In this position the belt lies in close contact with the surface of the material of the trousers all around the top edge of the trousers.
A user attempting to place a belt clip between the belt and the trouser material that immediately faces the belt must force the belt away from the trouser material in order to make an opening large enough for the leading edge of the belt clip to pass through. The user usually attempts to do this by pushing the leading edge of the belt clip up to the juncture between the belt and the trouser material and moving the leading edge of the belt clip around to displace the belt from its position next to the trouser material. After the user succeeds in inserting the leading edge of the belt clip into the space between the belt and the trouser material, the user then pushes the belt clip down into place between the belt and the trouser material.
Placing the belt clip over the belt in this manner may require several attempts because the width of the leading edge of the belt clip is large in relation to the space that normally exists between the belt and the trouser material. In addition, the leading edge of the belt clip that must be inserted between the belt and the trouser material is under a spring loaded pressure to force the leading edge of the belt clip firmly against the back of the cellular telephone. Also, users frequently attempt to accomplish the placement of the belt clip with one hand while that hand is holding the cellular telephone and belt clip combination. Under such circumstances a user generally can not consistently place the belt clip into position quickly and easily.
It is also not uncommon for users to encounter similar difficulties when removing the belt clip from its position on the user's belt.